Minors, Cataldo advance in 800m, 60m hurdles, respectively

BOSTON (February 27, 2015) – Junior Vinny Biunno (Montgomery, N.Y.) ranked second in the heptathlon through the first day of the NEICAAA Championships, hosted by Boston University at the BU Track & Tennis Center, to lead the way for the Franklin Pierce University men's track & field team on Friday. Elsewhere, sophomore Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) clinched an All-New England finish in the 800 meters.

Biunno used Friday to put himself in position to contend for a New England title in the heptathlon on Saturday, as he will enter the second day of the New England Championships just 10 points behind University of Vermont junior Martin Kallur. Biunno piled up 2863 points across four events on Friday, to rank second out of 12 participants. He opened the day by placing second in the 60-meter dash, with a mark of 7.25 seconds to tally 796 points.

Biunno then notched season bests in each of the next three events, starting with a leap of 6.68 meters to earn 739 points and finish third in the long jump. His weakest event was the shot put, where he placed 11th with 487 points after a heave of 10.02 meters. Biunno bounced back immediately by clearing 2.03 meters to finish first in the high jump and earn 831 points.

Elsewhere, the Ravens had five other individuals and one relay squad compete on Friday in Boston. Two Franklin Pierce student-athletes placed high enough in heat races on Friday to advance to Saturday's competition: Minors and sophomore Cory Cataldo (Tewksbury, Mass.). Minors ran a 1:51.83 in the 800 to win his heat and post the second-best time of the day. The time advanced him to Saturday's eight-person final, where he will earn All-New England honors. Meanwhile, Cataldo posted a season-best time of 8.56 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. The time was 15th-best on the day and advanced him to Saturday's semifinals.

Meanwhile, two other Franklin Pierce student-athletes tallied top-15 finishes at the BU Track & Tennis Center. Junior Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) ran a 15:03.92 to finish 12th in the 5000 meters. Also, sophomore Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.) ran a season-best 1:54.03 to place 13th in the 800 meters.

The Ravens fielded a distance medley relay team of senior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) to sophomore Matt Carpenter (Gloucester, Mass.) to Holmes to Minors, which placed 18th with a time of 10:46.54. Freshman Nicholas Jacques (Westfield, Mass.) finished 25th in the 200 meters with a time of 22.74 seconds.

In addition to Biunno, Cataldo and Minors, two other Ravens are scheduled to compete individually on Saturday at the NEICAA Championships: Gisore in the mile and Ham in the 3000 meters. Franklin Pierce is also slated to field teams in the 4x400- and 4x800-meter relays.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce track and field apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).